


Feel You Sneakin' In

by lovethatwewerein



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M, minor Blaine Anderson/Tina Cohen Chang, this is the one time i make hunter an actual villain and i'm sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:09:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28597494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovethatwewerein/pseuds/lovethatwewerein
Summary: Letting Kurt go was easily one of the single most painful things he’d ever had to do. For both of them. Kurt needed to be in New York, it was where he belonged, and he was stuck in Ohio for another year. It would’ve been one thing to just send Kurt on his way, to stand in the doorway as he packed his bags and wish him well once they reached the airport. But the distance would kill them - he needed physical contact to feel loved - so they set each other free.
Relationships: Blaine Anderson/Sebastian Smythe
Comments: 2
Kudos: 35





	1. An Open Shut Case

**Author's Note:**

> Season 4 au lads. Might be bi Blaine. I'll figure it out later. 
> 
> Title from 'Willow' by Taylor Swift

Letting Kurt go was easily one of the single most painful things he’d ever had to do. For both of them. Kurt needed to be in New York, it was where he belonged, and he was stuck in Ohio for another year. It would’ve been one thing to just send Kurt on his way, to stand in the doorway as he packed his bags and wish him well once they reached the airport. But the distance would kill them - he needed physical contact to feel loved - so they set each other free. 

His parents ask him what’s wrong about two weeks into the summer, ask him if he had had problems at school that he didn’t want them to worry about. It’s impossible not to break down, to let them see how badly affected he’d been by Kurt leaving McKinley, leaving Ohio, leaving him. And how Kurt seemed to be living his best life because of it. 

They offer him the choice, Dalton or McKinley. His father explained that they had spoken to the headmaster before his transfer out about whether he would be allowed back in should he choose to. He had the choice to go home or stay in a place where Kurt dominated his memories. He had come to love McKinley, to love Brittany and, to some small degree, Mr Schue. But Dalton was where he should be, where he should’ve been the whole time, because it was part of who he was. 

He took the leap, his parents filling in the appropriate paperwork while he bounced in his seat. The only person he told about his return was Wes, long removed from the halls of Dalton, because the boy was the person he trusted most. He could’ve told Kurt, had considered it at length actually, but they were in a weird place and this could ruin any chance at friendship they had left. 

The school is bursting with students when he arrives the weekend before classes start. It’s not unusual for most of them to begin boarding a few days before the start of the year, take their time to settle back into beds that are too small and a strictly enforced curfew he’s only ever known Sebastian and Jon to break successfully. 

There’s the scent of rain still lingering in the air, dew still sticking to the grounds surrounding the academy, and the distinct smell of trees he never did figure out the name of. There’s sweat and polyester and, if he focuses hard enough, coffee he hasn’t drank in a year that’s still half a building away. It smells like home. 

His parents had agreed to let him dorm - it’s his senior year and wanted the full experience. Enrolling so late, submitting his forms just before the cut-offs for acceptance (special cases excluded), means that he has to share a room with someone. Dalton had always tried to restrict where the Warblers could make the most of their talent and, for some reason, had decided one year that it would be a spectacular idea for them to all be on the same floor. 

He couldn’t find the logic in it either. 

He’s hoping that he gets stuck with someone he knows. Jeff, who he’d spent a year living with as a freshman, or Trent, who joined the Warblers with him. There were a few possibilities, a senior or a junior warbler based on numbers, but none of them really stuck out at him. 

Until it did. The obvious choice, just as Dalton had been. 

“Blaine,” Sebastian says, losing the little balance he’s had with his chair tilted backwards and crashing to the floor. “What are you doing in my room?” 

“It’s my room now too,” he explains, pushing his way into the room and towards the emptier half. Sebastian manages to find his feet, sitting himself on his bed instead of the chair again. His grey sheets are still the same as the ones he had on the bed the first, and only, time he’d visited the other boy’s dorm. It’s comforting, strangely. “I transferred back to Dalton.” 

“And Hummel’s okay with that?” The moment Sebastian wants to stop the words from fighting their way out is obvious, the moderately crazed look in his eyes that turns immediately apologetic when Blaine frowns. “Ignore that last thing. It’s great to have you back, buddy.” 

He nods, a light smile curling on his lips. “It’s great to be back.” 

*

The Warblers accept him back into their ranks with an ease he hadn’t anticipated but Sebastian, apparently, had. _“Why do you think I was so adamant you come back last year?” He asks when Blaine wonders aloud about how quickly they’d taken him back. “I just wanted them to shut up.”_

Settling back into the academic side of things is more difficult, the curriculum much more fast-paced than the McKinley student body could even imagine and a lot harder. He’d never struggled with school, per se, but Dalton is a different world to public school when it comes to education and it takes him a couple of weeks to find his footing. And plenty of help from Sebastian. 

_“Calculation for speed?”_

_“Distance divided by time.”_

_“When was the southern US hit by Hurricane Katrina?”_

_He knows this one, knows that it’s either 2004 or 2005, but Sebastian is smiling at him like it’s a secret and it’s throwing him off. “2004?”_

_“Nope,” Sebastian pops the ‘p’, throwing the question cards he’d been holding on their shared desk. “It was ‘05. But does this mean we can stop now?”_

_He sighs, briefly debating whether he should keep cramming for nothing more than actual classwork, before shutting the textbook on his lap. “Want to watch a film?”_

_“Only if it was made after 1975, Anderson,” Sebastian says, and they both pretend that he means it._

*

Sometimes they have their moments, the times when Sebastian is snippy at practice and acting like he’s entitled to the world as a whole, like he hung the sun and moon. There are days where Blaine is the problem too, ones where he’s tired from catching up and dancing and dealing with this Hunter guy the school board pulled out of their ass. They tend to turn their backs on each other to sleep, or one of them will spend the night on the floor in someone else’s dorm because, if they don’t, who knows what will happen. 

Blaine doesn’t enjoy admitting it, that he still finds Sebastian attractive after everything that happened. But the taller boy is one of the most beautiful people he’s ever met, especially when he’d damn near naked. Which happens often enough to be suspicious. 

But through all of it, the studying and the arguing and the sexual tension they both recognise for what it is, a mutual hatred of Hunter carries them through Warbler practice. It’s the only time they really have free to spite his existence. And it’s outrageously funny. 

_“You’re too far to the left, Anderson,” Hunter yelled, glaring at Blaine with an obscene amount of hatred for what’s actually happening. “One more step and you’ll be practically riding Smythe.”_

_And, because Sebastian isn’t the only one who can be snarky, Blaine says, “I didn’t think you wanted a free show,” and actually wraps himself around Sebastian. Hunter goes red and it’s worth the awkwardness that will no doubt surround them tonight._

_“That’s not what… How dare you… I have never…” There’s a few more sentences that never get finished, scandalised words that get funnier with each passing attempt. And it doesn’t matter that he can sense every vibration in Sebastian’s chest, every chuckle before it makes its way into the open air, because pissing off Hunter is the best part of his day._

_“Maybe you should try teaching the choreography better,” he whispers conspiratorially just before he leaves, standing on his tiptoes so Hunter can definitely hear him. It’s slightly embarrassing, to be so short in that moment, but his only other choice was standing on a table and he’d already been reprimanded for that one. “If I can’t even get it right, how will the freshmen?”_

_He can feel Hunter’s glare burning deep into his back as he walks away._

*

It’s surprising how quickly he comes to consider Sebastian a friend again. They get coffee on campus before Warbler practice. They arrange times to study together in the library. Sebastian lends him his hoodie once when the chill that comes with the beginning of winter challenges him as a person. 

They get along but there’s always a shadow hovering over them that dampens any enjoyment they could draw for each other’s company. The slushie. Kurt. He knows they have to talk about it, put everything behind them so they can trust completely, but each time he wants to bring it up, Sebastian directs the conversation somewhere else. He’s sure enough that it’s a diversion tactic now. 

_“I’m really glad I came back this year, you know?”_

_Sebastian turns to look at him from his bed, casting a shadow along the wall behind him. “As bad as I think it was, McKinley couldn’t have been that awful.”_

_“It wasn’t,” he shakes his head, a curl tumbling into his line of vision. He pulls on it. “Last year was just really rough for so many reasons. Transferring, surgery, Kurt.”_

_“Why did you transfer?” He’d dropped the surgery in there on purpose this time, his final attempt at getting Sebastian to open up about his side of the story. Blaine knew his version of events, had the hospital bills to prove it, but he wants to know how it ended up there. How they ended up there._

_“Kurt kept bringing it up over the summer and…” He pauses. He knows the reasons he’d given his friends at McKinley, that he’d given Kurt. They were the truth, sort of, and he wanted there to be someone that knew what went through his mind, why he did what he did. “And that’s it. Kurt kept bringing it up and I just felt like I couldn’t keep saying no.”_

_Sebastian hums lowly, a sound he’s come to associate with the other boy biting his tongue, with stopping himself from saying something unforgivable. But that’s not what he wants, he wants someone to have an opinion, an honest opinion, on the choice he made, and he asks that Sebastian give him that._

_“I think you gave up part of who you were for someone that didn’t care who you were in the first place.”_

_It’s not fair, because Sebastian didn’t know him before he met Kurt. Before he left Dalton behind and, with it, half a dozen of his closest friends. And, after that realisation, he supposed that maybe it is fair. Maybe that’s why it’s fair. Sebastian only knew him with Kurt, knew him as a loyal boyfriend, and he saw what Kurt didn’t. The parts of him that missed everything he had been and could’ve been._

_*_

No one tells them about Hunter’s plan for sectionals. No one tells them about the steroids full stop. Whether it’s because they think low of them or highly of them or whatever it is, it still hurts. To not feel like he’s part of the team for the second time in his life. Sebastian loses it with Hunter, rips him apart like a vicious dog, and Blaine just nods when he’s finished because there’s no way for him to top that. 

“Mr. Smythe, Mr. Anderson, would you please follow me to my office?” The headmaster pulls them out of class a week before sectionals. They both know what it’s about, as do the other Warblers in their class, but he doesn’t regret bringing it to the board. Doesn’t regret ruining their name before it could be demolished for good. 

The meeting lasts over an hour, both of them filling out a form of what they knew and who was involved for official use. It hurts every part of him to write the names of boys he’s known for years, boys he’d had no problem trusting with the reason for his original transfer. He waits until they’re excused, until he’s curled up in bed under his comforter, to cry. 

He doesn’t question it when Sebastian slips into the bed behind him, holding him close to his body and whispering words he can’t quite make out in the darkness. 

They wake up tangled together in his sheets. It’s not the first time - they’ve fallen asleep watching films a dozen times in the same bed - but it’s different. It was because he was in pain, because he was in tears from betrayal, because Sebastian is a good person despite what the last year claimed. He gets him a coffee as a thank you. 

The Warblers can’t compete. Most of their members were suspended for drug misuse and the rest can’t learn a routine in time for sectionals. They can’t compete, his last chance for a win gone in the flicker of an eye, but he plans to go and watch the New Directions anyway. They were his friends and, though he’s lost any passion he had for show choir this year, they deserve his support. It was a pleasant surprise when Sebastian said he’ll join him. 

__“You want to come with me to watch the New Directions perform at sectionals?”_ _

__Sebastian shrugs, tapping his pen on the desk in a steady rhythm. “I figured that since the last ones hated me so much, I could get the new ones to like me.”_ _

__“Since when do you care about people liking you?”_ _

__“Most of the guys here won’t talk to me and you know it,” he says pointedly and, yes, he does know. They won’t talk to him either. “I do need friends.”_ _

__He stifles a chuckle, leaning back against the wall behind his bed. “And you think the New Directions will be your friends?”_ _

__“The new ones,” he corrects. Blaine rolls his eyes. “The old ones hate me too much.”_ _

__“I’m not going to argue with you on this,” he surrenders, holding his hands up. If he had one, he would wave a white handkerchief around. It’s a shame all of his are Dalton blue or red. “If you want to come to sectionals with me, come to sectionals with me.”_ _

__“You could’ve just said that.”_ _

The McKinley auditorium is colder than he remembers. He doesn’t know who they’ve been replaced with yet so he grabs a programme off one of the students he vaguely recognises from his time there. Sebastian leads him to their seats, a warm hand on the small of his back. He knows it’s just something Sebastian does, something his parents ingrained in him from a young age, but it still heats him up a bit against the chill. 

They arrived early, much earlier than most people would consider reasonable, a habit instilled in him and he directs Sebastian through the hallways to get backstage, not wanting to be seen by the few members of the audience that had already arrived. It’s busy, a team dressed in light blue and another in yellow warming up in classrooms. In the choir room, right where he expected them to be, is the New Directions. 

Sam is the first to notice him, yelling his name and gaining the attention of the others. There’s very few people he does recognise - Sam, Tina, Artie and Brittany - but the team looks strong, somehow stronger than the New Directions had before, and he’s proud of them for filling in the gaps the seniors had left. 

“Blaine Warbler,” Brittany hugs him tightly after everyone else that he does know, taking just a step back to look at Sebastian. They both tense when she leaps forward and hugs him as well. “Other Warbler.” 

“His name’s Sebastian, Britt.” 

“I knew his name wasn’t meerkat,” she says instead of anything that makes sense. He just goes with it. Tina, unfortunately, doesn’t. 

“What’s he doing here?” 

“I invited him, Tina,” he tries. It probably wouldn’t go down well to say Sebastian basically invited himself and Blaine didn’t mind. “Is that a problem?” 

He can tell that she wants to argue, that she wants to yell Sebastian’s name into the sun until her voice is hoarse from cursing him out. But she keeps it down and goes to stand next to a boy he doesn’t recognise with cropped hair. 

He and Sebastian only stay for a few minutes, promising Brittany that they’ll meet her afterwards, before returning to their seats. He does scan the crowds, does take the small chance he has to see if Kurt’s here, and he’s genuinely shocked that his absence doesn’t make his heart ache beyond reason. 

He’s recovering. Everything will be okay. 

* 

He rushes out of his seat when one of the new girls falls to the ground, yelling at Sebastian to get the spare juice box he keeps in his car and meet him in the choir room. He recognises fainting, had enough experience with it when he was in recovery that he barely has to think about joining their team and checking that she’s okay. He thinks it’s odd that they don’t have a nurse on duty when there’s this many people in the building, but that’s McKinley. 

“Drink this,” he commands when Sebastian throws the juice across the room. It’s a spectacular throw, an even greater catch, and he’d probably pat himself on the back if his body wasn’t humming with concern. He almost doesn’t hear Sebastian’s next words over the half a dozen conversations about what happened. 

“You guys need to get back on stage or you’ll be disqualified,” he says to Sam, quickly explaining the rule book and how absurd the rules of show choir actually were. Between them, Sebastian and Sam had almost herded everyone except Marley (he learnt her name the second he entered the room again) when Sue announces that it’s too late. The Warblers were disqualified. The New Directions were disqualified. And he’s never hated having a passion for performing more than right now. 

* 

He and Sebastian return to normal. To Dalton and finding their music in performing at homes for the elderly. In Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. The younger warblers, fresher faces that had only joined for the chance to compete, can’t understand why they do it. Why they keep their passion ignited when their audience falls asleep or asks them to quiet down. But they go along with it, with hits from the 40s that they’ve never heard before, because they’re a part of the family now. 

“You never did tell me who called you on Thanksgiving.” 

Blaine’s studying on his bed, Sebastian taking his place at their shared desk with college brochures spread across the wood. He hadn’t thought to share it, to relive the conversation with Kurt, but Sebastian meant well. 

__“Blaine, hello. Can you hear me?” Kurt’s voice sounded from the other end of the line, seemingly distant despite the rustling of his shirt against the phone. It could be the traffic in the background in New York or it could be that they haven’t bothered to reach out to one another for weeks._ _

__He coughs. “Yeah, Kurt, I can hear you.”_ _

__“That’s great.” A long pause. “Have you guys already performed?”_ _

__“The Warblers were disqualified a week ago,” he says, the bitterness of the sentence curling around his teeth, his tongue. “The new captain had most of the team on steroids.”_ _

__“That’s… I’m really sorry for you Blaine.”_ _

__“We’re managing.”_ _

__“Have you gone to watch sectionals, though? Support the New Directions?”_ _

__He nods, realises Kurt can’t see him. It’s more painful than he cares to admit. “Yeah. Sebastian and I thought we’d show them some love from Dalton.”_ _

__“Sebastian?”_ _

__It’s pitchy and nervous and slightly offended._ _

__“He thought it would be good that I have someone there for me,” he coughs again, gesturing to Sebastian to wait a minute when he turns the corner from the restrooms. “He was really great when Marley fainted.”_ _

__Kurt coughs then. Shock or, maybe, sheer disbelief. “Marley? She fainted?”_ _

__“Tina isn’t taking it well.”_ _

__“Tina never took losing well.”_ _

__They share a laugh. One they haven’t had the chance to in a long time; one from before things like love got in the way._ _

__“It’s really great to hear from you, Kurt,” he says, full of whimsy and hope that they can be friends again. They may never be lovers, boyfriends, after this point but at the very least, he hopes they can be friends. “I miss you.”_ _

__“I miss you too,” The words nestle in his chest, through his veins and into his heart. He feels at peace now that the truth is out, now that he’s honest about where he and Kurt stand. “I’m coming back to Ohio for Christmas. Maybe we can see each other.”_ _

__“I’d like that.”_ _

__They let the conversation drift off, things they need to say in person left between them until Christmas. But the parts of him that had still been running riot, that needed to know Kurt and himself once more, are calm._ _

“He’s coming home for Christmas,” he tells Sebastian, closing the book he’d been reading for English. “We’re going to talk.” 

“About getting back together?” 

It’s an odd question, one he never thought Sebastian would ask. It’s laced in something bitter and warped and bordering on jealousy. He kind of likes that the idea of him and Kurt can rile the taller boy up so easily. 

“About being friends.” Tension leaves Sebastian’s shoulders immediately. “About moving on.” 

“You got your eye on someone, Anderson?” The stiffness is back, steeling Sebastian’s bones against words that aren’t coming. 

“You never know what could happen.” 

He feels all kinds of relief when Sebastian barks out a laugh and goes back to his brochures, very little seriousness lingering on his face from what had been said. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Tina invites him to a party on New Years Eve. She acts funny when he asks if he can bring a friend, if he can bring Sebastian, but gives him permission regardless. Kurt isn’t going to be there, refusing to venture back to Ohio now that he got accepted into NYADA, so he can’t bring himself to care much about the hatred still lingering between Sebastian and the New Directions. He’s going for Blaine, to keep him from getting too drunk and making out with Rachel again. He’s going as a friend._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a late update and that's because I didn't realise that I finished this chapter. But here it is.

Tina invites him to a party on New Years Eve. She acts funny when he asks if he can bring a friend, if he can bring Sebastian, but gives him permission regardless. Kurt isn’t going to be there, refusing to venture back to Ohio now that he got accepted into NYADA, so he can’t bring himself to care much about the hatred still lingering between Sebastian and the New Directions. He’s going for Blaine, to keep him from getting too drunk and making out with Rachel again. He’s going as a friend. 

“Blainey days,” Tina pulls him into a tight hug when they arrive on her doorstep. She gives Sebastian a quick nod. “We’ve been waiting for you.” 

“Are you going to let us in, Tina?” 

She shuffles out of the way, teetering on her toes before letting them fall to the floor. She’s tipsy, not yet drunk but soon enough, and she’s dragging him into her living room with a cheer. He kind of wants to stay sober, to watch everyone else embarrass themselves while inebriated over him, but it’s been a long semester and he deserves to let loose. 

He finally learns the names of the new members of the New Directions. Marley seems okay now and her boyfriend, Jake, turns out to be Puck’s brother. It’s weird to think that he’s never met these people, that he considered himself part of the team for a year and now he only knows half of them. But they all seem nicer, except Kitty, than the majority of last year’s group and he can support that. 

It doesn’t take him long to get buzzed, to lean close to Tina with a flirty smile and barely-there infatuation. He’s always had a habit of not caring when he’s drinking, of finding someone to cuddle up to and hope for more. He did it with Rachel sophomore year, caught himself enjoying the touch of her lips against his and the softness of her skin. Despite what he told Kurt, there’s still a small part of him that’s not sure who he is, who he’s attracted to. 

It doesn’t matter when Tina doesn’t seem to care, lets him lean his head on her shoulder and turn his nose into her neck occasionally. She’s missed Mike - they’ve talked a lot more often since Thanksgiving than before - and he’s been lonely too. So they stick together, cuddle on one of the armchairs so there’s barely any room for them not to share the same air, and he catches Sebastian glances over at them with a frown too many times. 

It’s Kitty that suggests spin the bottle, a mean glint in her eye directed at Marley that he doesn’t even want to try and understand. He sits opposite Ryder, Tina to one side of him and Sebastian to the other.

Part of him really wants the bottle to land on Tina on his turn, wants to calm the lingering doubts from when he kissed Rachel. A bigger part of him wants it to land on any of the boys in the room, just so he doesn’t experience a second sexuality crisis after this damn game. He can’t be distracted like that during his senior year. 

Kitty’s spin lands on Tina and it’s not at all what he expects. Maybe Tina’s drunk enough that she doesn’t care, maybe Kitty is too, because they really go for it. He’s never known Tina to be attracted to a woman but there’s a first time for everything and he’ll support her regardless. Sam kisses Brittany which, though boring, is heated. Jake and Ryder kiss and there’s more resentment there than anything else. 

Sebastian’s spin lands on Tina as well and it’s perfectly polite. A quick peck and nothing else. Then it’s his turn and he’s not entirely sure what he’s hoping for but he pauses when it narrowly skips over Artie to point at Sebastian. He holds his breath, waiting for the inevitable sudden exit for a toilet break or air or a glass of water to sober up, but it never comes. 

Sebastian turns to him, slowly raising his hand to Blaine’s cheek and he wishes the rest of the room would fade away. That Tina would stop sighing and Sam would stop counting down. That Brittany would stop saying that she predicted this would happen. He wishes this was something Sebastian did for himself, something he wanted. 

And then the only thing he can feel is Sebastian’s palm against his cheek, fingers brushing lightly against his neck, his lips on Blaine’s. He can taste Sebastian, orange soda and the slightest hint of mint from the gum he had a habit of chewing even when it lost its flavour. Can taste the spice of his cologne and sweat. 

It’s damn near intoxicating. 

Tina calls them off, pulling him away from the kiss by the shoulder and he doesn’t know what to say. What to do. So he stands up and walks away. He’s not sure whether he’s going to get some air or water or any of the dozens of things he expected Sebastian to do moments before they kissed. Someone chases after him and he’s not sure who it is until Marley grabs his wrist outside the front door. 

“Are you okay? You ran out of there pretty quickly.” 

“Yeah I’m fine,” He hugs his arms tight around himself. It’s chilly and he left his jacket inside on one of the chairs. “I just needed some air.” 

Marley wraps her arms around him. She smells of something flowery and soft and he’s instantly at peace. “You sure you didn’t just need to get away from Sebastian? That kiss was kind of intense.” 

“I didn’t even notice.” 

“You looked like you really enjoyed it.” 

“I’m drunk.” 

She laughs, a light chuckle in his ear that makes him want to get closer to her and move so much further away. “My grandma always says drunk actions are sober thoughts.” 

“Your grandma sounds like a smart woman,” He says and she nods. “I didn’t worry anyone, did I?” 

“Just Tina and Sebastian and everyone else,” she sighs, moving away to look him in the eye. “I managed to stop everyone coming out to ambush you though.” 

“I appreciate that.” 

They stand in silence for a minute. He has no words left to say. He panicked everyone when he rushed out of the room and likely hurt Sebastian in the process too. Marley’s sweet and thoughtful and, if he were at all interested, he would consider dating her. But he’s not sure who he is and he’s just kissed his best friend and she’s taken regardless. 

“Want to go back in?” 

“I’d rather go home and avoid Sebastian,” he tells her, a disenchanted sigh leaving his lips. “But since he’s my ride…” 

She links their arms, leading him back through the front door. “Time to face the music.” 

*

He doesn’t remember much when he wakes up. He knows he drank more than he should, that he gave up on thinking about going home and crashed at Tina’s instead. He has no idea what Sebastian ended up doing, whether he passed out with the rest of them or whether he drove himself home. 

He gets his answer when he stumbles into the kitchen, his sweater on backwards and one sock missing. Sebastian and Marley are talking at the coffee table, low murmurs he can’t make out from the doorway. It’s a strange sight, to see Sebastian talking to someone so kind and thoughtful, but it’s a pleasant one too. 

Sebastian notices him first, laughing at the mess he appears to be. “You doing alright, killer?” 

“I need coffee.” He thinks he says the words, but his head is pounding and all he can make out is a low rumble from his chest. They both seem to understand him though, Marley standing up to get him one even when he attempts to protest. 

He smiles at her in thanks when she passes it to him and it’s exactly right. Just a dash of creamer and three sugars. He’s never had coffee with her, never sat in the Lima Bean and done nothing but talk. He wonders who told her how he takes his coffee. He has his suspicions. 

“Do any of you know where my other sock is?” he asks when he’s awake enough to function. He wants an advil, wants something to dull his headache, but he doesn’t want to dig through Tina’s cabinets and drawers. Doesn’t want to disrespect her or her parents like that. 

“My guess is with Sam’s shirt and Brittany’s bra,” Sebastian says with a laugh. Marley giggles into her hand. “There was a lot of stripping after the countdown.” 

“I didn’t serenade anyone, did I?” 

Marley and Sebastian share a grin, one that unsettles every bone in his body. “Depends on what you count as a serenade.” 

“Singing a whole song to one person,” he groans. “I have a bad habit of doing it when I’m not sober. I skip right past seducing to singing.” 

“I wouldn’t say you skipped right past seducing,” Sebastian grins. “I think Tina might be a little bit in love with you now.” 

Marley buries her face in her hands to stifle her laughter, to shield him from what he doesn’t know yet. “She’s definitely in love with you now.” 

“What did I do?” 

“Before or after kissing her at midnight?” 

That’s his limit. He’s awful when he’s drunk, has no inhibitions at all and now it’s come to bite him in the ass. Tina doesn’t know how gone he was last night, how far from sober he was for the first time in ages, and he’s wracked with guilt. 

_He knows that he shouldn’t have kissed Tina. That he should’ve waited in the corner until midnight passed surrounded by happy couples and Sebastian. But Tina’s soft and warm and he’s still not sure what to do after kissing Sebastian during spin the bottle so, when she pulls him up for the countdown, he doesn’t even bother trying to resist._

_She takes the initiative, leans up on her tiptoes to bring their lips together and he lets it happen. Let’s himself get lost in the feel of her compared to Sebastian, of someone that wanted to kiss him. She tastes of vodka and cinnamon and girl and it’s so different from what he’s used to that he pulls her closer._

_“I wanna sing a song.”_

_“We should sing a song.”_

_They sing Just Can’t Get Enough, have fun while doing it and he chances one too many glances at Sebastian during the song that he resents himself a little more. He’s calm, drinking out of a red cup even though he’s the designated driver and Blaine’s never found being responsible so hot._

They each eat a bowl of cereal, Blaine promising himself that he’ll replace it when he’s not as hungover. Sam stumbles into the room at some point, bypassing them to get to the bathroom in time to throw up. Tina wakes up after that, claiming her own mug and joining them. If she remembers anything, she doesn’t say it.

It’s a different dynamic than there is after most Warbler parties, no one has disappeared the way Wes tends to do, and it’s extremely different to waking up in Kurt’s bed the way he had after Rachel’s party during sophomore year. He doesn’t say anything but he sees Marley and Sebastian exchange numbers while he waits in Sebastian’s car. It’ll be good for him to have a friend. 

“So did you have fun?” he asks when Sebastian joins him, light and teasing because he knows the answer, also knows that Sebastian won’t admit to it.

“Tell anyone and I’ll sue you for slander.” 

“Sure you will.”

*

Their relationship changes after New Years, he’s less obviously affectionate. Resisting the urge to touch, hug, anything really, is a challenge for him - he’s always been a tactile person and this makes life difficult - but he isn’t sure where he stands with Sebastian so he tries not to risk it. 

He spends more time with Jeff, the first person to return from his suspension with less bounce. Nick is set to return to tomorrow and he thinks the boy comes to their dorm room because he doesn’t want to be alone, because Dalton seems more intimidating or because he’s actually missed them. Whatever it is, he spends the night, a sleeping bag and pillow on the floor as his bed because he refused to share one of the tiny beds provided by the school. 

Sebastian isn’t there when he wakes up and Jeff is still curled up on the floor so he’s quiet in his movements, tugging a jumper on because he refuses to wear his blazer on a Sunday. He steps over the boy on the floor, biting his lip as he opens the door, the bottom scraping against the floor. These buildings are old, over two hundred years old, and not everything works the way it used to. 

The Dalton coffee isn’t ideal, it scalds his tongue and it’s always verging on too bitter but it’s still decent enough to drink. He’s never really made friends outside of the Warblers, content to surround himself with people he knows, that he has similarities with and already likes. It makes it difficult to trust that decision when he scans the room, hoping there’s somewhere else he can sit other than the empty chair opposite Sebastian. 

Plot twist - there isn’t. 

The other boy glances up from his textbook when Blaine pulls the chair out, smiling and then tucking his head back into it. Blaine doesn’t get how he can study this early - he can’t even bear to look at notes until noon. 

“Are you just going to sit there with your one true love?” Sebastian asks eventually, dropping his pen into the crease between the pages of his book, blue and green and yellow highlighted words jumping out and he can’t make out what they say but he promises himself that he’ll steal it at some point and copy it out. Or he could just ask. 

“What?” 

His friend gestures to the coffee still clasped tightly between both of his hands, half empty and rapidly cooling. “When do you plan to be wed?” 

“You’re an idiot,” he says as he fights down a laugh, a losing battle he knows but it’s a matter of principle. “I can’t marry coffee.” 

“But you would if you could, wouldn’t you?” 

He sips his drink, reverting his gaze to a lovely photo of the Dalton gardens in 1892. “That’s besides the point.” 

There’s a snort, embarrassingly loud, and he almost calls Sebastian out on it but Jeff drags a chair over to their table, his head falling onto the wood with a thud so he lets it go. 

*

It’s not often that they’re granted a break, the staff wanting to push them to their limits no matter the day, but it’s pouring with rain outside and they can’t do exercise in the cold if they can’t see more than a few inches past their noses. Coach McNally accepts that for what it is, that even he has to be lenient at times, and sends Jeff into the cupboard to collect what they need for dodgeball. 

He lets them choose their own teams and he laughs quietly at Sebastian’s comments about how kind he’s being - several variations of “looks like McNally finally got laid” that shouldn’t entertain him as much as they do - and Blaine’s almost surprised when they don’t accidentally end up as Warblers versus everyone else. 

Jeff and Nick join him on one side of the room while Sebastian walks over to Thad and Meatbox. Trent goes between them all for a while, wondering where he’s less likely to suffer injury before joining Sebastian’s team - he hides behind some students that Blaine doesn’t really know and he can see Nick mumbling something to Jeff as he points it out. 

McNally blows his whistle and he’s quick to duck behind someone else when Thad aims for him. Jeff retaliates and Nick throws a ball at Trent just so the teams are evenly matched. He forgets how much he loves when gym lessons are like this, entertaining chaos that lets him get the tiny bits of rage he feels towards his friends out in a safe environment. 

Sebastian doesn’t aim at him but he knows it’s coming - it always does - so he’s careful not to stay still for too long. He balances on the edge of his toes, ducks down and almost trips over his feet too many times to count. But he and Jeff keep going when Meatbox hits Nick’s thigh with a hard throw and Sebastian keeps going when Thad just avoids getting hit in the face by Blaine’s throw. 

McNally stops them when there’s only four players left on each team, collecting all of the balls from where they were scattered around the room and leaving only two in the dead centre of the gym. He can vividly remember the last time this had happened, how McNally had given them ninety seconds to win after a fifteen minute game and the ball hitting his shoulder roughly. He’d lost the game to Thad that time (sophomore year when Kurt had lasted all of three minutes in the game) but he refused to lose to Sebastian. 

The whistle blows again, him staying nearer the back of the gym because he knows he won’t get to the centre before Sebastian or Jeff. He barely plays Meatbox any attention, knows that the taller is going to try and eliminate the people he doesn’t really know first - someone from yearbook? and a boy from his physics class - because what’s the fun in winning anything if the final person to beat isn’t someone near and dear. 

There isn’t one. Not in dodgeball. 

He regrets focusing his attention on Sebastian, who was throwing the ball at Jeff whenever it landed near him, because the second available ball smacks him on the thigh - hard. He glares at the boy who hit him, who’s adjusting his glasses as if he didn’t ruin a perfectly laid out plan, and joins Nick and Thad at the side of the hall, watching Jeff fail to catch either of the balls Meatbox and Sebastian throw at him in unison. 

They lost and he’s kind of upset. He wanted to win - he’s competitive - but he’ll live. There could be another chance if the weather carries on as it has through the entire week and he swears that he’ll pay more attention to people that don’t hang out with his friends. Maybe he should just pay less attention to Sebastian. 

Even as he thinks it, he can’t help but shake his head. That just won’t happen and he’s lying to himself if he believes it will for even a second.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm at love-that-we-were-in on tumblr.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm at love-that-we-were-in on tumblr. Feel free to reach out, send prompts and what-not.


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